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Show Gov. Calvin L. Rampton, Boad Commission mem-city mayors and other officials step up to snip ribbon on 1-70' segment in Emery County, Link means economic, travel boost for thousands. Ribbon-Cutting Opens New Segment Of Interstate-70 on Picturesque Utah Desert , By' Dave Jonsson Tribune Staff Writer GHOST ROCKS VIEW AREA, Emery County - A ribbon-cutting ceremony on a new section of 1-70 here Thursday wasn't exactly the :snip' heart round the world. But it was "about the greatest thing ! that's ever happened" to Green River, Salina and Richfield - and still a signif-, leant event in travel in the West, a num-I ber of state, federal and local officials ; agreed. I As summed up by State Road Com-, mission Chairman Gem Church, Pan-': guitch, the new Interstate makes the [ three towns "neighbors overnight" and is • sure to spark a new era of growth of j their economies, { ' 500 Attend • About 500 persons, some from as far tjjway as Grand Junction, Cold., (another town on 1-70) attended brief ceremonies at Ghost Rocks View Area, one of a number of stopping places affording views of the landscape. Those attending included members of the Road Commission; Charles D. Beach and George W. Bohn, Federal Highway Administration, and the mayors of Green River, Salina and Richfield: Rey Lloyd Halt, Harold1 Peterson and C. A, Rees, respectively. • Work is mostly complete on the 70-mile segment between Green River and Fremont Junction - only a few guard rails and signs remain to be erected. Knowing this, local residents and some tourists have been sneaking across the road for several weeks, trying it and the scenery out. Unique Features f The segment boasts a number of I unique features: T-It is built on desert land1 acquired j from the Bureau of Land Management at ! less cost per mile than any other Utah highway, according to R. D. Nielsen, BLM director for Utah. -It is thought the longest stretch of road built over a completely "new route since the building of the Alcan Highway in the early 1940s, according to Gov. Cal« vin L. Rampton, who flew down to be the chief ribbon-snipper. -It goes through a canyon once so narrow a man could walk along touching both walls at once. The section is a wide two lanes now, and won't be a full four lanes until 1975. Utah will be the western end of 1-70 (it comes west into Utah via Denver) and at Cove Fort it will terminate and motorists will have a north-south choice of directions on 1-15. |
